12.24.2009

LESSON LEARNED, ACTION TAKEN

August 22, 1924

Benny wouldn't get out of bed all morning, and when he finally did he just sat there in our hotel room and drank seltzer water. "It isn't fair. We had a chance to catch the Bucs with those guys." I reminded him that even after winning seven straight we're still over 25 games out of first place near the end of August but he didn't wanna hear it. He said he felt the same way he did after rehearsing for a school play for three weeks and then doing the acting—in other words, everything inside him had drained out.

I gave up on Benny and went down to have breakfast with Heinie Sand. He was still pretty sparky over yesterday's game but even though he was happy to be playing again he was just as sad to see the Black Phillies leave.

"I can't imagine what this must be like for them Negroes. I didn't know any myself growing up in San Francisco, but I sure know how tough it is to make the bigs and when you got all this race pressure on top of that it's hard to believe they can even focus on hitting a baseball." I said him that maybe because the ball is white it helps them, and he just laughed and munched on a bacon strip. "All I know is that I wanna keep our win streak going no matter what. If a guy is purple or green and can play up a storm he deserves a square chance, and I'm gonna do my best as sort of a tribute to them."

After yesterday's surprise win against Mays, we had even tougher chances today with Rixey going, and through six innings he was up to his old Redland Field tricks, shutting us down on just two singles. Carlson was doing his usual Houdini act for us, but Ike Caveney's 2-run homer in the 2nd was the only real damage they did off him.

Then Babe Pinelli booted Cy's grounder to start the 7th. After Wilson lined out, Johnny Mokan banged one high and deep to left. Bressler ran up the little hill in front of the fence but a wind gust carried the ball right over the top and the game was tied! Rixey was rattled and threw away Parkinson's dribble for a two-base error and our dugout was cooking again. Heinie took his bat from me with the most determined look I'd ever seen on his face and whacked the first pitch into the corner for a scoring double and a 3-2 lead!

Carlson gave Bressler a double to begin their 8th, and after Steineder relieved Pinelli got him home with a scoring fly. The Reds defense has the most errors in the league, though, and with two gone and two on in the top of the 9th, Caveney muffed another one and we took a 4-3 lead.

But Steineder was off his game, and singles in a row by Critz, Bubbles Hargrave and Walker tied it again and we went extras. Jakie May took over for the still-angry Rixey and Mokan led with a single off him in the 11th. After Parkinson whiffed, Heinie the Terror went back up to the dish and this time shot a ball into the right corner, scooted all the way around to third for a run-scoring triple!

Cincy wouldn't die, though, and loaded the sacks with one out against Huck Betts, who I thought had recovered from getting hammered by the Cards the other day when pitching for the Black Phils. Well, he recovered all at once, as Bressler bounced into a short-to-home-to-first double play with the infield playing up and we had eight in a row!

Heinie got tossed in the shower with his uniform on and had at least three players fighting over who was going to buy him tonight's steak. Benny even came to dinner with us, all jazzed up because we now had fifty wins on the season. "Wait'll we get to Pittsburgh after this!" is all he kept saying, and thankfully, no one was listening.

Good night, reader-people.—Vinny

PHL 000 000 301 01 - 5 9 1CIN 020 000 011 00 - 4 15 4

Other National League games today:

at PIRATES 15-18-1, BRAVES 2-6-2Yup, it looks like the Bucs were really bugged about losing yesterday. Believe it or else, the Braves were only down 3-2 going to the bottom of the 5th. Cuyler gets his usual three hits but Glenn Wright is the real star, driving in seven with two doubles, a triple and a single. As usual, injuries don't even bother the Pirates, as Ray Kremer has to leave after four innings with a blister and the crummy Jeff Pfeffer throws a 3-hit shutout the rest of the way.

ROBINS 5-10-1, at CUBS 1-5-0Dazzy Vance is now 19-7, Zack Wheat gets three hits and Bernie Neis gets back from an injury by hitting a homer to start the game.

GIANTS 17-22-0, at CARDINALS 6-9-3I guess McGraw's early bed-checks last night paid off. Haines, Dyer, Bell, and Stuart are torn apart like fresh chickens, with even George Kelly getting four hits batting in the third slot. As we've seen all year, though, these explosions mean nothing. I'll be shocked if the Giants win tomorrow.

Thanks, mister, and a happy holiday to you and yours too! I did read all 5000 of Joe Poz's words and loved every one. When his new book on the '75 Reds came out recently I e-mailed him because I found a typo and he promised to check my blog at that time, but heard nothing since so unsure if he ever did. The guy's a little busy. And he remains my favorite sports columnist on the planet. His amazing tribute to Stan Musial from a year or two ago made me weep.